Steam Summer Sale - Bring Back Flash Deals&excl;

Everyone's favorite wallet scourge is back. This year's Steam Summer Sale has kicked off, and with it comes great deals on even greater games. Recommendations are cropping up all over the Internet in an effort to persuade you to snap up the best bang for your buck, but I'd like to move away from recommendations and discuss something a little different.

Every year the Steam Summer Sale rolls around, it demolishes wallets and savings, but this year something is missing -- the Flash Deals. Whenever they make an appearance they regularly add to the excitement and fun of the event. Knowing that a game just out of reach could finally be yours the next time that clock ticks over is a tantalizing prospect that always keeps every gamer's wallet open. Flash Deals not only deserve to come back, they would also drastically improve what many gamers consider an extra Christmas.

If you're a Summer Sale veteran, you probably remember Flash Deals. If this is your first rodeo, though, Flash Deals are timed offers during which a specified set of games either go on sale when they originally weren't, or get an even bigger discount than normal.

Take the Steam Summer sale from 2015 for instance, where great games like 7 Days to Die and Dishonored had some of their biggest discounts ever. Thanks to Flash Deals, the overall price cut across the entire Summer Sale in 2015 was higher than in the following year. 2015's sales ended up being around 66.7% off, whereas 2016's sales ended up being only 50% off overall. It doesn't take a genius to see that 66.7% off is obviously a much better saving than 50%, so the omission of Flash Deals has hurt one of gaming's best sales just for this reason alone.

However, it wasn't just the deals themselves that Flash Deals offered. It also gave gamers the chance to actually provide direct input on the sales. Normally, the games that go on sale are completely random, with no indication beforehand as to what's going on sale when, but the Community's Choice gave the Steam community a chance to actively participate in the sale themselves. By allowing people to vote on which deals they'd like to see, this section of the Flash Deals took the personal views of the community into account, letting them feel like they are playing a real part in how the sale worked.

It also paired perfectly with Wishlist Notifications. Getting a Flash Deal email about that one game you've been waiting on for as long as you can remember was a huge rush that many would love to see again. When a game is out of your price range, an extremely limited-time offer with a huge discount is just what you need to end the agonizing wait.

Flash Deals left the Steam Summer Sale last year and haven't returned since, but I argue that the Summer Sale just doesn't feel complete without them. Timed opportunities are the perfect way to drive demand, as we've already alluded to, and having the timer count down in front of someone who's on the fence is much more likely to push them to a purchase. Flash Deals added so much to the excitement of Steam Summer Sales, and losing them is such a shame. I for one support Flash Deals coming back next year, and I'm sure I'm not the only one in that camp.

Are you a Flash Deals fanatic? Do you think they need to make a return? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!